Jeff Book Review #119
A Treasure Deep, Alton Gansy (mystery, thriller)
A 2003 novel I found, Treasure Deep is the first "Christian fiction" read in my new reading binge. It isn't really my thing, but like all of the mysteries I've read so far, there are things I liked and things I didn't like about it.
It starts with a construction company official getting rights outside an archaeological dig in a small California town and the community is curious about what he's looking for. That's the mystery - so it already has a minor nitpick of mine with mysteries - the protagonist knows something and we're supposed to figure out what he knows, rather than the protagonist and us trying to figure out a mystery together. People in town are trying to figure out what he's up to (just like we are) and he's saying go away, this is none of your business. But whatever. There's also a threatened-with-torture sequence that I guess doesn't count as actual torture because it was just ("just") a threat but we see a mom struggle with her conscience and circumstances as her autistic son is threatened with torture. The torture-drives-tough-moral-decisions thing is always just lazy writing.
We have some true good guys, some beyond-evil bad guys, some folks in between having conflicts of purpose, and a historical what-if that doesn't disappoint.
Verdict: A fun, clean modern organizational adventure that is better than I described above but those are the things I'll remember most about it.
Jeff's Rating: 3 / 5 (Good)
movie rating if made into a movie: PG